Surprised no one's posted this yet re: The Death of Net Neutrality.

[HughBeaumont]

Granted, this is an extreme hypothetical.

Or is it?

[upaloopa]

1. Why can't there be ISPs like there use to be

such as EarthLink that would not charge like a Verizon would?
Seems to me they would get the bulk of the business from Internet users.
?
On edit I used to have satellite service but that was with dial up in the boonies.

[NYC_SKP]

2. Actually, it's the reality they want to create and are creating, modeled after Cable Sucky TV.

And designed to force you to pay for shit you don't really want.

Our only hope is that one of the players refused to play the game and continues to offer unconstrained Internet.

Recommended, with sadness.

[HughBeaumont]

3. Isn't this how AOL went down in flames?

They tried to keep everyone in their crappy dial-up black boxes and made going to the outside difficult?

Eventually, I just aced them and went with a local ISP until I got broadband. Hope WOW doesn't pull this shit.

[Blue_Tires]

4. Sadly, the plan was already set in motion and rolling downhill several years back

when the courts allowed the telecoms to "tier" their service...I knew back then this day was eventually coming, especially with a weak, toothless FCC...

[ananda]

5. Ouch!

They'll price us to death.

[lpbk2713]

6. I'd go without before I'd have to settle for DSL.

Not a whole lot better than ISDN or dial-up IMO.

[ManiacJoe]

7. Multiple large threads already running:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024332429
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024330164
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024330827

I skipped the small threads.

[dixiegrrrrl]

8. Ruling is barely ink dried, and comes this Breaking News headline:

Sources: Charter approaches Comcast on a bid for Time Warner Cable - @ReutersBiz